Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 12:21-30

Why Are We in Tumbler Ridge?

 

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’

And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour.

And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.

But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles?

Are all prophets?

Are all teachers?

Do all work miracles?

Do all have gifts of healing?

Do all speak in tongues?

Do all interpret?”[1]

The first responsibility of Grizzly Valley Baptist Church is not to evangelise Tumbler Ridge.

The first responsibility of Grizzly Valley Church is not to worship the Son of God.

The first responsibility for Grizzly Valley Church is to be worthy to bear the Name of Christ the Lord.

I am the first to admit that we cannot make ourselves worthy of bearing His Name before the Father; we stand in His grace before the Father’s throne.

Before the eyes of the watching world, however, we are called to reflect His glory in the church and thus demonstrate that we are worthy of being called Christians.

This means that we are responsible to know the mind of Christ for our congregation and that we are responsible to courageously do that which He intends.

In order to determine how to be worthy of fulfilling the will of Christ we must know what His will is.

Paul, writing the Corinthian saints, speaks quite pointedly to the will of Christ for each church.

I ask you today to especially focus attention on our text, *verses twenty-one **through thirty of the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians*.

*The Will of Christ is for Unity in His Body*.

We cannot evangelise if we fail to honour Christ in first things.

Neither can we worship Him if we dishonour Him in primary issues.

When we come to the letters written to the churches, we see a theme that seems to predominate.

Repeatedly, the apostles plead for unity in the Faith.

This is more than mere appeal for agreement in doctrine.

It is a plea that as Christians we be united as a community of faith; it is a plea to act in concert as a congregation.

Think of a few of the Scriptures that plead for harmony in our mutual Faith.

Paul, concluding the salvation section of the letter to the Roman Christians urges us to “live in harmony with one another” [*Romans 12:16*].

It is a plea that Peter iterates in his first letter.

“All of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” [*1 Peter 3:8*].

At the beginning of this first letter to the Corinthians Paul began with a plea for unity.

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgement” [*1 Corinthians 1:10*].

When Jesus prayed His high priestly prayer, He pleaded for His own to be united.

“I do not ask for these [who have been with Me] only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me” [*John 17:20-23*].

Paul echoed this same prayer, “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” [*Romans 15:5, 6*].

In his Colossian letter, the Apostle commands the Colossian Christians, and thus commands all the saints of God, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” [*Colossians 3:12-14*].

Consider another command that is found in the Ephesian letter.

Be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” [*Ephesians 4:3-6*].

Unity is not incidental to our life as a community of faith—it is essential.

Unity is foundational for us as a congregation of Christ.

Paul makes this abundantly clear as he employs the concept of the church as a body.

The eye is an integral part of the body.

It does not have the option of ceasing to be part of the body or of condemning another part of the body.

In fact, the eye is functional only as it integrates with every other part of the body.

Likewise, the head cannot decide that it no longer needs the feet and thus attempt to banish the feet or worse yet to leave the body.

Both the feet and the head are integral to the body and each is essential to the other.

Only as they unite and work together can the head and the feet reflect the glory of the Designer of the body.

Because we confess our mutual need of one another, we must accept one another.

This acceptance will lead us to treat one another differently from the manner in which we might otherwise relate to one another if the church was merely an organisation.

Was the church simply an organisation—a political entity listed with the Registrar of Societies—we would not necessarily need to know who our fellow members were.

We would be under no particular obligation to get along.

In fact, if we could gather a sufficient number of supporters we could control the work and admit or dismiss whom we pleased.

The church is not a political organisation, however.

The church is a living entity—the Body of Christ.

The practical impact of this statement leads us to confess that we do not join the church, but we are rather placed in the church as God decides.

We do not dictate to God what we will do in the church, but we rather submit to His Spirit to fulfil the will of God through exercise of the gifts He has entrusted to us.

We are not elected to office, but we are appointed to office.

Do not think that I am dismissing the role of the congregation in selecting leadership.

God appoints to office, but the congregation is responsible to recognise God is working.

We trust that the congregation when instructed will seek out and ratify those whom God has appointed.

The clearest mark that we have understood God’s call and His work in the church is that we demonstrate a submissive spirit.

We do not exalt ourselves, but rather we seek to honour God through fulfilling His will.

We do not divide the Body of Christ through creating cliques or promoting sects within the assembly, but we do whatever we can to include and to unite.

We do not think of ourselves other than a gifted person whom God chose to equip for service within this particular congregation.

Likewise, we accept those whom God brings to us as equally gifted.

We resist the pressure to rank and segregate the people of God because we understand that only together do we constitute the Body of Christ.

We joyfully accept God’s appointment of those He has chosen to lead us and we refuse to permit ourselves to undermine or resist their sincere efforts to lead the church.

The united Body of Christ is a formidable entity.

Together that Body can face the enemy and demonstrate the reality of Christ’s promise that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against” His church [cf.

*Matthew 16:18*].

Together the people of God will unite in worship and gain the grudging admiration of unbelievers who are compelled to fall down and worship God, declaring, “God is really among you/”/ [see *1 Corinthians 14:25*].

As the people of God unite, they will experience that undefined but very real presence of Christ, which results in “glory in the church” [see *Ephesians 3:21*].

This is the church I long to see.

This is the church that Tumbler Ridge is dying to witness.

This is the church that conquered kingdoms and advanced the message of life.

This is the church that withstood pagan assault and heretic attack against all that is holy.

This is the church that shone light into European darkness and created a haven for the Faith when light was being extinguished under Moslem hordes.

This is the church that spanned an ocean and set Methodists circuit riders penetrating dark American forests.

This is the church that flamed as Baptist evangelists shone the light of God in every frontier town and village.

This is the church that ensured that a world would hear of the Son of God before the close of the last century.

This is the church that powerfully evangelised nations and glorified the Son of God.

I only ask, why not now and why not here?

Why not us?

Why not today?

*Christ Wills Mutual Strength in His Body*.

A united congregation is a church in which each member is secure in his or her calling.

They know that they have been redeemed by the grace of God.

Likewise, each member knows that he or she is set in the church by the will of God and that each member is equipped to honour God as He desires.

Each member of a united assembly is free to receive every other member, knowing that each one is a precious gift given by God.

When the Body of Christ is united we will receive one another as qualified by God to fulfil the ministry He assigns.

We will treat one another with respect and accord each other dignity befitting those given by the gracious hand of our God.